The move by Washington and Colorado in 2012 to legalize the recreational use of marijuana was a big one. And not just in the most obvious ways. The ripple effects are changing things all over: most notably, the ability for growers to completely revolutionize their operations. Cultivators in legal states and Canada are now in a position to make long term investments in their operations, leveraging the best agricultural techniques and technology available.
Nowhere is this more notable than it is for indoor growers. Equities.com got a chance to talk with Staffan Hillberg, the CEO of Heliospectra about how the cultivation industry is likely to change.
EQ: With four states legalizing recreational use, how do you see grow operations changing? How much room is there to improve efficiency and yields through better agricultural technology?
Staffan Hillberg: As the industry is legalized, growers will be able to invest long-term, which they couldn’t do before. They will be able to increase their revenues and lower their costs like any business basically. Repeatability and consistent results is key to running a professional operation, so that means growing protocols and technology will become very important for these growers. With our technology, you can vastly reduce the energy consumption in a grow operation.
By using Heliospectra LED lights, you can reduce electricity consumption by up to 50%. And since our lights don’t have any heat in the beam, there’s reduced investment in HVAC, in cooling systems, plus the electricity and cost to run those cooling systems. Furthermore, the LEDs last more than 50,000 hours, meaning you don’t have to replace the old HPS bulbs anymore. Finally, by optimizing the light recipe for the plants, you continuously reduce the energy consumption even more.